This invention relates to a combination product for combined use in the induction of labor or for abortion.
To avert danger for the mother and/or child, it is sometimes necessary to induce labor artificially or to terminate a pregnancy before term. Surgical techniques and pharmacological methods are available for this purpose.
A favorable pharmacological method is vaginal or intramuscular application of prostaglandins which, in the case of abortion, are taken in the first or second three-month period of pregnancy (Contraception 1983, Vol. 27, 51-60 and Int. J. Gynaecol. Obstet. 1982, Vol. 20, 383-386. Advantages of prostaglandins include their simple administrability and their applicability for use over a long period of pregnancy. Disadvantages include acute side effects such as pain and nausea; moreover, the success rate in the case of abortion in advanced phases of pregnancy is not over 90% even with a long period of prostaglandin treatment.
Another possibility of terminating a pregnancy consists in the application of an antigestagen (Med. et Hyg. 1982, Vol 40, 2087-2093). Antigestagens are better tolerated than prostaglandins but have a greater latency and individual variability of onset of action in comparison with prostaglandins.